This week's slew of apps is all about alternatives. Whenever a major player starts hyping an apps, it's all pretty much anyone is going to talk about. But you'd be doing yourself a disservice to ignore the cornucopia of options at your fingertips. We give you a couple alternatives to two big recent releases along with a little guy that's equally convenient.

So.Ho [SOHO Social Launcher]: Sure, sure, everyone's excited about Facebook Home. But what happens in the entirely likely scenario that your phone isn't one of the seven picked? What if you're more of a Twitter kind of social media addict? Fortunately for you, SO.HO gives you the immediate fix social media junkies need, along with the flexibility of being able to choose your preferred figurative poison. Take that, Zuck. Free

Note Anytime: Google Keep is nice and all, but it's also extremely limited in what it lets you do. Note Anytime gives you everything Keep can, but it's also a powerful drawing app, PDF annotation tool, interactive, browser, and virtual whiteboard (among other things). Obviously, with all these feature, the UI won't be quite as clean and beautifully pared down, but when it comes to an almost absurd level of functionality, that's a trade-off I'll take any day. Free

Mute by Location: Everyone hates that one guy who's cell phone starts obnoxiously vibrating and blaring in the middle of a business meeting, a movie, a library, what have you. Perhaps the only thing everyone hates more is actually being that guy. Mute is great because you can preset exactly how loud or soft you want your ringtone to be by location, so you'll never even have to worry about pulling your phone out to check that your volume's not on full blast. Free